Me and my wife are buying our first home. The lawyer has texted usto check if we wish to take out additional conveyancing searches. As novices we in the dark as to what's necessary for conveyancing in Peacehaven

The scope of Peacehaven conveyancing searches should be triggered based entirely on the property, the location, the likelihood of any of these risks, your knowledge of the locality and risks, your overall attitude to risk. What matters is that you properly understand what information each search could provide. Then you can decide if you personally think you need that information. If unsure, ask your lawyer to advise.

I have been told that property searches are the number one cause of obstruction in Peacehaven house deals. Is there any truth in this?

The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) published conclusions of a review by MoveWithUs that conveyancing searches do not feature amongst the top 10 causes of delays in the conveyancing process. Local searches are not likely to be the root cause of slowing down conveyancing in Peacehaven.

I've recently found out that there is a flying freehold element on a property I put an offer in a fortnight ago in what should have been a straight forward, no chain conveyancing. Peacehaven is the location of the property. Can you offer any opinion?

Flying freeholds in Peacehaven are unusual but are more likely to exist in relation to terraced houses. Even where you use a solicitor outside Peacehaven you would need to get your solicitor to go through the deeds thoroughly. Your mortgage company may require your conveyancing solicitor to take out an indemnity policy. Some of the more diligent conveyancing solicitors in Peacehaven may determine that this is not enough and that the deeds be re-written to give you the most up to date legal protection. If so, the next door neighbour also had to sign up to the revised deeds.It is possible that your lender will not accept the situation so the sooner you find out the better. You should also check with your insurance broker as to whether they will insure a flying freehold residence.

I have been pointed in your direction by a number of estate agents in Peacehaven to choose a solicitor using your seach tool. Is there a financial inducement for Estate Agents to recommend your services over and above alternative conveyancing organisations?

We refuse to offer any referral fee for sending work in our direction. We found it would be just too difficult a fee as members of the public would think, ‘How come the agent getting a kickback? Why am I not getting any benefit too?’ We would prefer to grow our business on genuine recommendations.

Partway through the sale of a leasehold flat in Peacehaven. Conveyancing lawyers are doing their job but we have been asked to pay a fortune from the managing agents. To date we have forked out £295.50 for a leasehold management information and then another £200 plus VAT for responses to queries supplied by the purchaser's property lawyer.

Your conveyancing practitioner will unlikely have any say over the level of the charges for this information however the average costs for the information for Peacehaven leasehold property is £380. When it comes to Peacehaven conveyancing transactions it is conventional for the vendor to cover the costs. The landlord or their agents are not duty bound to address these questions most will be content to do so - albeit often at high prices out of proportion to the work involved. Regretfully there is no law that mandates set charges for administrative tasks. There is no set time limit by which they are obliged to issue the information.